we're going to show them that we are ready to stand the storm this is what we did in against Atletico this is what we did at Sano this is what we did at uh Newcastle away and then if we stand the storm for 15 minutes let's become the storm let's be the one to take the control of the game let's be the one to be the most [Music] dangerous we knew that we need ball position especially at home um not only to create chances also to get them tired and to to give them something that
they don't like that they have to chase the ball that they have to to to to defend um and this is something where we we knew that we need to be active and um what we did not only in this game we had two different systems um in ball possession so the first thing that we always start is in a 433 shape so again Mel zabit he just push up a bit and is next to Julian Brandt as two number 10 then we always like to split the corridor next to the box with our two
players that they're not on the same line so if the fullback is inside we need a different angle with our Winger and the other way around and always try to get one holding mid to support and create a plus one situation in Midfield where he can turn or if we use the goalie to to to stretch the opposition and then from this formation what we also like similar like Paris is doing it but we we doing it with different profiles of the player so we also like to build up with with three at the back
and that means that Aman will drop in between the center backs and we are not on the same line with our back three we always have like a V we call it a v so that we always have a different angle if we pass it backwards that we don't have to pass Square passes that we always pass the ball diagonal if we play it backwards then we going to have two players on the holding mid position so it's going to be Marcel zabit and our left back Ian mson on the left wing we're going to
isolate Karim adami so to create a situation where we can always find in as a Target player to switch switch up play and we have Nicholas Fook as a number nine we're going to have Julian brand and jadden Sancho in between the lines and our right back Julian rason up front as a right fullback or right wing back in that case this formations allow allows us to keep the ball and to play 25 30 40 passes um to get them tired to get them um to to to get them a bit moving around and to
do things that they that they don't like to be fair we expected to do this more often in that game but in as I just said we started in a 433 and we found out out that this works really well and we could keep the ball in a 433 formation straight [Music] away what they did with with kilan mbappe as a striker who also tried to cut the pitch like like we did then they they push up on the number 10 position it was usually um z z then they have vitina and um Fabian Ruiz
and the two holding mid position the two center backs stay with Nicholas fuk and they have the Winger barola and on the other side Usman Deele and Mendes and on the other side ashimi and what we knew now is we need to keep them moving so to get in this position we always need some triggers one of our trigger is of course A throwin or a free kick where we can just pass it back and have enough time to get in our position or what we always like to use this is something very very very
tricky especially if you play at home in front of 81,000 to use a back pass to the goalie because with with this back pass you always create a plus one situation and now they have to make a decision to stay in the formation or to chase the ball if they chase the ball we have the opportunity maybe to accelerate straight away or to overplay their pressing but if they give us the the Breather and the time so we can now go into our positions so many of our attacks if you just look not only into
this game in in in all of our games started with the back pass to the goalie so what they they try to do is if we stretch and spread our center backs like this they defend similar like us in a 42 31 position but what they they try to do is to support mbappe in pressing they put barola on one Center back so this is what we knew is going to happen and this is something that we also faced in the Champions League playing for example against Milan with Rafael Lea the same principle or when
we played Newcastle away it was also the same principle that the left Winger is attacking our right center back that means we need to find this player so we need to get these players out out of the position and to find this player can we find it directly like this with a high ball or maybe we can open the space with our Center back to open this this area to play it with the low pass or maybe we need our number six or our number eight to support our goalie to create triangles and to find
our right back so this was one of the things that we tried to use um in ball possession the other thing is that we always like to use we call it uh double switches so we switch sides twice and we do it in in in a different way again we're going to start with our goalie so that means we're going to start with a pass for example to our left Center back slauter back and he's going to pass it with two touches to our left back he's going to open again he's going to pass it
back to our Center back going to pass us with two touches we're going to pass us with two touches so your position they need to move over and Shuffle and now this is what we call the double switch once we switch sides from fullback to fullback not from Center back to Center back from fullback to fullback with two touches now we use it so either we use fewer touches or we skip now players so that we don't pass it now from here to him now we pass it from here to him so we skip now
our Center back now once they come over and once we created a weak side of the opposition now we need to accelerate the game and that means we need to skip players and to make them tired we we played from this position to this position now they have to Sprint and once they have to Sprint they're going to be late and now we need again the options on both sides and now they're going to come over but now they're going to be late for the first time to put us under pressure and knowing about the
qualities of Kean mbappe but also knowing that he don't like to chase both center backs all the time we try to use this to play from the left fullback to the right fullback and back to the left fullback to to create a situation like this that we can now pass it back to our Center back and travel with the ball and once we are here and entering the second third of the pitch we of course we need players for the link up play where we want to break through on one side if they if there
is an option but what we needed even more is channel runs and we always try to create a inside channel that we we are focused in the width of 30 m between both edges of the box where we have our number eight our Striker our number eight or number 10 always create the opportunity to play the ball in behind once we have no pressure on the left foot of Slaughter back and once we have this run it depends if they are if they are on on on on their toes and if they stop this ball
in behind that opens the second channel so we have an inside Channel where we try to create this runs and this balls in behind and if this is closed then we're going to play the ball to the second Channel next to the box and once we are here in the second Channel knowing that barola is the one who focused on matum it's impossible for them to create a 21 situation with the Winger so now we're going to be in a position where Mendes is going to be in a 1 V one situation with jadden Sano
and this is all that we try to create to create channel runs with Karim Mami on that side or the diagonal switch to create a One V one situation against Mendes or even if if they're like this to know that we can now overlap with our fullback julon and to create even a 2V1 situation and of course now we are in a position where we want to score where we want to have um a good coverage of the box where we we know that they're going to defend where we know they they are all focused
on protecting the ball but also know that Usman Deele and Kean mbappe they like to prepare the Counterattack from an offside position and now it's very important we want to finish every attack we want to create a goal uh at least we need a corner kick or a free kick or whatsoever but we need to finish the action once we are here but also if we are now in a game what is played over 180 minutes if we just risking it and leaving Usman n and and Kilian mbapp in position like this where when when
when for example donaruma catches the ball because the cross didn't hit our player um we're going to risk it a a lot to create spaces for counter attacks for them so it was very important for us to have a good coverage of the rest defense so we always said this is the responsibility of our fullbacks or our number six our center backs need to communicate to in this case it was amran to stay in a position that that we always create a plus one situation to in the rest defense or if emra was out of
position then he needs to talk to our to our fullback that he needs needs to stay but it would be even better if we defend it this way with Ian mson covering the space in in the back together with schlotterbeck and matsum so that we can create on one side and we can protect on the other side [Music] talking about the the winning goal um that we scored in the 36 minute um it was the best practice of what I just explained what was the plan in in in in ball possession so we created the
situation that the ball was with Gregor kobel and Bola he was again in a 5050 or maybe even a 7030 position to cover Matel and Julian rason we had Marcel Zaba pushing up a bit to take Fabian Ruiz out of the position and it all started with a diagonal ball to the right hand side to our right back Mendes pushed up um the center back tried to shuffle over and to come over and we created a situation here where we have the the possibility to to drag them out of the position to combine here and
from this we created a weak side where we switched sides with the diagonal ball into this position where Ian Matson was on the ball and Karim Mami on the wing and all of the Paris players needed to push up one of our principles is it's maybe not the most exciting one but a very effective one and that's the reason why I I like it so much is if you know that um the the the opposition likes to to push up then make them pushing up and knowing that we have good qualities and and quick players
on the pitch we just played it played a back pass to our Center Niko schotter and then the opposition have two options if we play a back pass if only the offensive players push up we're going to create in between space in between the lines but we knew that especially Paris they like to bump up with the whole team but if you're playing just a short back pass and everybody's online and everybody's on the toe it's going to create situations like this it was mininos and also the left back Mendes the big a bit deeper
than Lucas Hernandez and also ashaf fakim in this position and we had at least two players on on on that line to to push up and have a counter movement so we are pushing up with them but we know that the next ball is played this direction and this is what happened we had this inside Channel run in in in in this situation it was Nicholas Fook who he's not the quickest player but he knew about the idea and so he was quicker in the head than with his legs and then it was just a
soft perfect time chip ball in the back and it was Nicholas Fook in a situation like this where it's one thing that we try to to to create spaces as a team but then you also need the quality of the players once you get into this position and fer he he received the ball with his right foot with a first touch that was really perfect preparing the second touch and then he finished the action with his left foot and this is how we we took the lead it started with the goalie with the diagonal ball
to the right back we switch sides we created with a back past the situation that they have to jump out of the position and then we've been on our toes to play the ball in behind and then a perfect practice perfect example of how we would like to score even more [Music] goals talking about the mindset going into the second game we knew that we took the lead and we are just one draw away to to get into the final we are just one clean sheet away to to get to VM and but this is
something that we don't wanted to get into our heads we are just one win away so we did it so many times we won so many games and we are just one win away to go to the final and this was the mindset where that we try to get into the heads straight after the game in Dortmund um that it's impossible to play the occasion in Paris we need to play our game the game that we played so many times in a good way we need to play it one more time and this is how
we we try to create a positive mindset that we are also ready to win in Paris not only in Dortmund and we knew that they're going to be very intense in the beginning of the game this is how they played against so many teams of high quality This Is How They started against Barcelona against s Sebastian and in the first 50 minutes they're going to create a power play and they're going to try to be in our heads they try to be on our should and always whis whispering in our ear you can't stand the
storm you can't stand the storm and this is what we need to be ready and we're going to show them that we are ready to stand the storm this is what we did against Atletico this is what we did at Sano this is what we did at uh Newcastle away and then if we stand the storm for 15 minutes let's become the storm let's be the one to take the control of the game let's be the one to be the most dangerous and this is how we try to to to create the mindset getting into
the SEC second [Music] leg it was quite clear for us that we're going to start with the same lineup but we we changed a bit of of the approach how we we we we press them um especially if they build up with three and in possession we we we again tried to create the same situation like we did in the first leg again with the with the plan B if we struggle to create chances we're going to swap to a three 2 41 system like we did so many times in in in in this season
um but what we basically just changed again the striker ncas fuk on the pitch he was responsible that they're not allowed to travel with the ball if they build up with three we're going to attack them from The Blind Side with our Wingers to create two passes to find the fullback not one pass but what we what we learned from our first game or what we had to adapt to cover this space as I just mentioned with Fabian Ruiz unfortunately uh uh this idea came up after the first leg not at halftime um but it
worked out really well in the second in the second leg so what we tried to create was that if we defend this way and if we can't put them under pressure with our Winger and if our number eight is getting out of the position like it happened so many times because they've been so good as I just mentioned vtina and Fabian Riz they are so good in in finding the free space what we said that our Striker is not covering the back pass to the center back he needs to step back and make this Gap
as small as possible and then we he he's going to come back and then with with creating a shadow for our number eight we're going to put them under pressure in this this situation so we need our our Striker to cover this pass and we need our player not to go this way to open this space so to create a shadow that he can't pass it straight away so that vitina needs to move and if they want to play and keep the possession then they have to play it backwards this was the only thing that
we adapted in terms of out of possession in in Poss session we stick to the same principles and the plan like we did in the first [Music] leg it was a in swinging corner from from the left hand side with our right footed player Julian Brandt and we knew that they're going to cover the front post and the mid goal with two players it's going to be Ramos and mininos the two spare players the rest is in a men marking system um what we try is to drag these players a bit out of the position
so for that we need good movements and we had with Kar adami we had a player covering this space in front of the first spare man to drag him out of the position we had Nicholas Fook with a clever movement behind the goalie always trying to get into the position like this always to drag mininos a bit out of the position and then we had with amran in this area and then two players with Matel and Niko schotter two players that going to use this space that going to open in the mid goal and on
the far post so this is what worked out really well the corner s was sended in into this position both spare players been overplayed uh matz humel is really good in in opening some some small spaces for him and we had two players who've been able to score in this in this situation and fortunately it was mutz with a great run with a great timing a great ball and this is how we we took the lead into in in this game and again it was the winning [Music] goal we brought in Nicholas Zula um and
we we changed our formation and we played in a 541 shape where we knew we closed the center really well and in the first 75 minutes but especially on both sides with barola and on the other side with Akim and demele they always try to break on the wings and we always try to support our our our fullback and our Winger not to be in a 2v2 situation to always be with with the center back with a white center back always to create a three against two situation and we manage it quite well we we
forced them to play many crosses into a LW block we forced them to have many shots from distance but again if you see the quality of the shots from distance I think they hit the woodwork again twice or three times um but we defended really well and it was the key that we always push up that we don't sit back that we always jump out of the position that we don't allow them to to to have two touches or three touches without any dels and this is what we tried to manage with a four 541
formation where we had a a wide five block a narrow four block and one Striker with with f cook to Shield the ball for us to give us a breather and this is how we managed to to to keep the [Music] result best moment of the game was the final whistle we saw what kind of emotions not only on the stands also in the team where we've been really really happy and delighted uh with with the performance and to keep two clean sheets against Paris and to win both games was something really special for us
um it was the third time in the history of the club um to go through the final and um you can feel it not only on the pitch on the stands afterwards in the dressing room it was a very special moment for all of us this was definitely one of the highlights to to beat Paris away from home and to reach the Champions League final was a very special night for all of us [Music]
